The rain in Rome had stopped, but a different kind of storm brewed within the halls of Ricci
Global.
Yuna Kim sat in the privacy of her hotel room, the warm lights dimmed as the city hummed
outside. Her fingers tapped the keyboard in a rhythmic flurry. Passwords bypassed. Layers of
encryption peeled back like old wallpaper. The file Lucien warned her about Andros Consortium
was just the surface.
Now, she was looking for the truth beneath the surface.
What she found next chilled her.
"Operative: Sable."
No full name. No photograph. Just a codename. And underneath it, a kill log contracts fulfilled,
names erased. Politicians. Bankers. Corporate executives. Dozens of them. Each death was ruled
an accident, a suicide, a random act of violence.
The same anonymous fund had paid out after everyone. And that fund? It was hidden under an
acquisition subsidiary of Ricci Global Korea.
Yuna leaned back in her chair. South Korea. Her homeland. She hadn't imagined her investigation
would stretch back there, or that it would involve blood on home soil.
But one name in particular made her freeze.
Jung Myung-Ho. Former Minister of Economic Security. Found dead three years ago in a staged
car accident. Yuna's father used to work for him. The scandal that followed had nearly torn her
family apart.
She felt her stomach tighten.
This wasn't just business anymore.
This was personal.
Meanwhile: The Subterranean Vault, Rome
Lucien Ricci descended into the underbelly of his empire—below Ricci Global's main tower, past
security doors and biometric scans, into a vault no one outside his inner circle knew existed.
Inside, monitors lined the walls. Live camera feeds. Surveillance logs. Digital forensics. At the
center stood a circular table polished black marble, cold and pristine.
Gabriel was already there, seated with his hands clasped.
"She's inside the Andros branch servers," he said without preamble.
Lucien didn't flinch. "Let her look."
Gabriel's jaw tightened. "You're letting her get too close."
"She's earned it."
Gabriel stood, slamming his fist on the table. "You're compromising everything we've built for a
woman we barely know!"
Lucien stepped forward. "Yuna Kim isn't just any woman. She's already uncovered more in two
weeks than our own internal teams did in two years."
"She's a threat."
"She's a key," Lucien corrected. "And I don't believe she'll betray me."
Gabriel's voice dropped to a whisper. "Then you're already compromised."
Lucien paused for a moment, then looked up at one of the screens. It showed Yuna sitting at her
desk, eyes narrowed at her screen, expression unreadable. "I've trusted fewer people in my life
than you can count on one hand, Gabriel. But she's not looking to take me down."
"She's looking for the truth."
"And she deserves it," Lucien said quietly.
Back at the Hotel
Yuna's phone rang.
She hesitated. Unknown number.
She answered anyway.
A low, female voice crackled through the line. "You're digging in the wrong places, Ms. Kim."
Yuna's spine stiffened. "Who is this?"
"You don't know me," the voice said. "But I know what you've found. And if you don't stop
looking, there won't be a body left to bury."
The line went dead.
Yuna stood there, phone pressed to her ear, heart thudding.
This wasn't just financial crimes anymore. This was a machine of death. One that operated silently,
surgically.
She turned back to her computer. But her fingers hovered over the keyboard.
Someone had just warned her off. Which meant she was close.
Villa Ricci, Private Wing – Nightfall
Lucien entered the private study. Moonlight spilled in through the tall windows, catching the dust
that hung in the air. He sat behind the desk where his father once sat. The memories here weren't
kind ones. But they were reminders.
The world didn't reward the kind-hearted. It swallowed them.
He lit a cigar, leaned back, and picked up a photo from the drawer. A black-and-white image of
four men. His father. His uncle. A man named Viktor Malinov a Russian warlord and one of the
original Syndicate members. And Dominic Crane, an American financier turned criminal
tactician.
Lucien muttered under his breath: "Still watching me from the grave."
He needed to act soon. The Syndicate Council wouldn't wait forever. They had tolerated his
independence because of the order he maintained. But cracks were forming. His trust in Yuna
would be seen as a weakness.
And the last time someone questioned Lucien's leadership… they ended up floating in the Tiber
River.
Later: A Message from Korea
Yuna's phone buzzed again. This time, it was encrypted.
Sender: Unknown.
She opened the file cautiously.
Inside: A single video. She played it.
Grainy footage showed a man in a black coat walking into a facility. Armed guards let him through.
In the background, banners with the Ricci Global Korea logo.
The man turned his head. Just enough to reveal his face.
Yuna's breath caught.
It was her father. Alive.